Will ALWAYS be around, as long as computers are around in the future.But as I'm learning about Python and migrating my life over to Linux, I realize why this is important.Īnother advantage of these alternatives are that many of them use plain text files which have big benefits over web-based applications: That's something I hadn't specifically thought about before. Besides just this post, FOSS seemed to be an important feature on the internet for this since a personal database is well.personal, and should serve you well over a lifetime. Someone on Reddit compiled all of them ( god bless this person) and asked others to add on their own alternatives as well (god bless reddit).

Of course at that point, DEVONthink would be cheaper but I decided to go looking for alternatives. The cost is between $15 - $30 a month which to me is worth it, if it is the only software that does what it does or is the best at what it does. It was exactly what I was looking for a software that made bi-directional, neural connections with your notes, and as an added bonus, showed you a map of everything that is connected in your database or what folks are calling, the 'second brain'. This is when Roam Research entered the picture. And of course, there are many more competitors coming out every day so simply decided to keep building my knowledge base on Notion. But Notion was also expanding their team and adding updates faster than ever before so I decided to let it be. They even had a road map for each update with a timeline. Since that point, my notes have moved from text files -> Google Docs -> Notion.Įven while at Notion I debated going over to ClickUp since it already has an API out, more features and are releasing updates constantly.

And I passively waited around for a different option to pop up. Later I read about Ryan Holiday's commonplace book system which is essentially based off of Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method ('slip-box').Īs a college student, I didn't want to pay a lot for a software, even it the price was justified. The idea of a database to contain all your notes and ideas was first introduced to me in 2014 when I read Steven Johnson's book 'Where Good Ideas Come From.' He emphasizes connectivity and new technologies, and even mentions how he uses DEVONthink to help write his books on multi-disciplinary fields.

Devonthink to go features